Wandering around, I came across a piece of software (haven’t gotten to try it yet, however) called “Guitar & Drum Trainer” from Renegade Minds. It allows you to play mp3’s and slow them down to make the track easier to learn. It also has some fun live graphs and charts while the track plays.

I’m curious about combining a tool like this with some good old fashioned cheater tabs (like at guitaretab.com). While learning to play (some semblance?) of the track, you can play along at a speed more comfortable to your skill level and then speed up to true tempo. I’m thinking this would be much easier than struggle trying to keep up with the track from the start.

Also, from guitartab.com, I found guitartricks.com. Seems like a neat concept … video lessons contributed by various instructors in many different musical styles. As of this writing, they are doing 24 free lessons and then only $10.95/month for full access. I’m curious how the quality of each lesson is (video, sound, and instructional effectiveness) … maybe I’ll give it a shot one of these days.